Giuliani, Very Open? There’s Always a First Time

A few years back, a man named Russell Harding held a City Hall patronage job that came with a government credit card, which he used to steal more than $250,000.

Crooks happen. What kept Mr. Harding in thievery for three years was that the city government, led by his patron, Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, slammed the door on the one person who sought the Harding credit card records, a reporter with The Village Voice who filed freedom of information requests.

These requests were stalled until the next mayor took office and released the documents. Before long, Mr. Harding was packed off to prison.

In a debate among Republican candidates this week, Mr. Giuliani was asked what promises he would make about running an open White House.

That was a daring claim, considering that prying information out of the Giuliani City Hall required teams of lawyers with the persistence of mules. To cite three of the most prominent examples, he tried to block the release of different batches of public records to the city’s Independent Budget Office, to the city’s public advocate, and to the state comptroller. He was sued on each occasion. He lost every time. He appealed each decision. He lost every appeal.

“So,” Mr. Giuliani said during the debate, looking toward his presidency, “I would be extremely open.”

Just not yet.

Since leaving public office at the end of 2001, Mr. Giuliani has made many millions of dollars, but will not say exactly how, or from whom. He has filed the disclosures required of presidential candidates, and these show he made money through speaking engagements, a partnership in a law firm, and shares in 12 consulting and financial businesses. During an interview on “Meet the Press” earlier this week, he said he could not reveal more.

“I couldn’t put out a list of all my clients,” Mr. Giuliani said. “There are confidentiality agreements that surround the relationship that businesses have with law firms, in particular. In some cases, with security firms, so I can’t do that.”

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The question was put to a spokeswoman for his campaign on Friday: Has Mr. Giuliani asked his clients to release him from the confidentiality agreements?

The campaign did not answer.

The Giuliani companies have provided services for the Saudi national oil company, for the emirate of Qatar and for a data-mining business that wanted a federal contract, according to recent reports in Time magazine, The Wall Street Journal and The Village Voice.

Qatar, a small petroleum state, is a delicate place for an American presidential candidate to do business. Its emir has built up good relations with the United States and has played host to American military forces, but elements within his government also gave shelter to the man who planned the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Those sympathizers probably tipped off Mr. Mohammed when Americans were hoping to seize him in 1996, according to the 9/11 Commission report.

AMONG those who invited Mr. Mohammed to Qatar, the commission said, was Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalid al-Thani, now the minister of the interior.

When asked by Tim Russert of “Meet the Press” about his company’s relationship with the interior minister, Mr. Giuliani responded: “The relationship is with a, a ministry that does training.” A ministry, Mr. Russert pressed, headed by Mr. Thani?

No, Mr. Giuliani said.

“The relationship is not like that,” he continued. “We have never had any involvement with him at all at any time.” He added, “Here’s the purpose of it, generally speaking: It’s to secure that country against attack by Islamic terrorists.”

At the time he took office as mayor of New York in 1994, Mr. Giuliani had spent most of his adult life in public service, and was a man of moderate means. His only entanglements were with people like Russell Harding, a college dropout with no known qualifications for running a housing agency, the job he was given. Mr. Harding’s father, the head of the New York Liberal Party, had provided Mr. Giuliani with a valuable endorsement in 1993.

Now Mr. Giuliani is a rich man. And keeping secrets about the friends, allies and business associates who might trail him into the White House could prove far riskier than someone running amok with a city credit card.

E-mail: dwyer@nytimes.com

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page B1 of the New York edition with the headline: Giuliani, Very Open? There’s Always A First Time. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe